Editorial: George Ryan should finish his sentence

Friday

Nov 28, 2008 at 12:01 AMNov 28, 2008 at 3:37 PM

U.S. Sen.. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told reporters on Tuesday that he was thinking about asking President Bush to commute the sentence of Illinois’ former governor, George Ryan, who is imprisoned after being convicted of corruption charges.

U.S. Sen.. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told reporters on Tuesday that he was thinking about asking President Bush to commute the sentence of Illinois’ former governor, George Ryan, who is imprisoned after being convicted of corruption charges.

We strongly urge the president to turn down any commutation request.

The political class of Illinois, particularly here in Springfield, has always had a soft spot for Ryan, especially after six years of the arrogant and truth-challenged Blagojevich administration.

From former Gov. James Thompson — Ryan’s lawyer, under whom he served as lieutenant governor — to Durbin to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley to the most powerless backbench legislator, they all marvel at how Ryan “always kept his word.” The love for Ryan at the Statehouse is truly a bipartisan affair.

Ryan, a Republican, may have kept his word to them while striking backroom deals, but he did not keep his word to the people of Illinois.

George Ryan was a corrupt man who used state government and taxpayer money to enrich himself and his friends throughout his three terms as secretary of state and governor.

His brand of pay-to-play corruption did not stop when he and his underlings went to prison. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has shown through Operation Board Games that corruption in Illinois is a bipartisan affair and has been pervasive in Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration.

The message to Illinois’ political class has clearly not been received. That’s one reason Ryan has to remain in jail — as an example and a deterrent to those officeholders who would think that they can get away with it.

Only the most heartless would not be moved at what Durbin talked about Tuesday — Ryan’s wife, Lura Lynn, explaining to him the effect of her husband’s imprisonment on the Ryan family. It is profoundly sad that this nice lady is not spending her twilight years in the company of her husband, who will not leave prison until he is 79.

But there’s a sadder story familiar to many Illinoisans. It is the story of the Rev. Scott and Janet Willis.

In 1994, they were driving behind a semi when a heavy metal part fell off it, striking their van and puncturing the gasoline tank. The part threw off sparks, igniting the gasoline and engulfing the van in flames, killing the Willis’ six children.

A trucking company official later admitted he paid to fix the license test of the driver whose truck was involved in the accident that killed the Willis children. The bribes went into Ryan’s campaign fund.

The Willis story shows that the cost of corruption can be much more than taxpayers’ dollars and cents.

Through the years, Ryan has apologized for corruption that went on under his watch, but he has never taken personal responsibility. On the day he went to prison, Ryan said he had a “clear conscience” and maintained his innocence.

Because of his lack of remorse, because of the deaths of the six Willis children, because of the unfairness of a commutation for Ryan but not others in the licenses-for-bribes scandal and because of the message it sends to those who engage in corruption, Ryan must finish his sentence.